India expect big guns to boom in vital Sri Lanka Test

India will be looking forward to handsome contributions from their famed middle order in the crucial third and final Test against Sri Lanka starting here on Friday.

The series is tied 1-1, with Sri Lanka winning the opening Test by an innings and 239 runs in Colombo, and India bouncing back with a 170-run victory in the second match in Galle.

India have quality batsmen in Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Venkatsai Laxman, but they rarely looked at their best in the last two Tests.

Laxman is the only middle-order batsman to have cracked a half-century in four innings, while Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly have failed to convert good starts into big knocks.

Tendulkar, chasing retired West Indies captain Brian Lara's world record of 11,953 Test runs, has so far contributed 75 in two matches, with 31 being his highest score. He is now 97 runs short of the record.

All the middle-order batsmen were troubled by Sri Lankan spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, who shared 34 wickets in two matches.

Mendis, an unorthodox spinner with plenty of variation, grabbed 18 wickets and off-spinner Muralitharan 16. They are expected to play major roles in the final match.

"Everybody has got starts. Sachin was batting brilliantly in the second innings (in Galle) and Rahul also," he said after the second Test.

"Sourav spent some time in the opening match, but did not get an opportunity in Galle. Laxman has been among runs, so it (middle order) is not really a worry."

That India managed to square the series without sizable contributions from the middle-order batsmen was mainly due to the excellent form of openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

Sehwag buried Sri Lanka's spin threat with an exciting strokeplay in the last match, hammering an unbeaten 201 in his team's first-innings total of 329 and a half-century in the second. He was named man of the match.

Gambhir made successive half-centuries in Galle, helping Sehwag add 167 for the opening wicket in the first innings and 90 in the second.

In contrast, Sri Lanka are still looking for a solid start from their openers. Michael Vandort's form is the main worry as he has contributed just 17 runs in three innings.

The hosts also expect their fast bowlers to keep pressure on India. Veteran left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas has so far taken four wickets and Nuwan Kulasekara one.

India's pace attack looked sharper in the last match, with Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan sending the hosts reeling at 10-3 in the opening four overs.

Sri Lanka could never recover from the early blows and were bundled out for 136 chasing a 307-run target.

India will be without coach Gary Kirsten, who left Tuesday for his native South Africa to be with his ailing mother.

"There is a lot of expertise in the team. There are five guys who have captained India, so it will just be a case of co-ordinating the expertise that's already there," said Paddy Upton, a member of India's coaching staff.

"Individually, each person needs to take some responsibility to contribute to the win. We are very confident and comfortable that we have got the players in the team who can win us this Test match."